Doctors and women who've had it call for more attention on postpartum psychosis

Lindsay Clancy is charged with murdering her children. Her defense argues she was suffering from severe postpartum mental illness. David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe/Getty Images hide caption

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The trial of a Boston-area mother charged with murdering her three small children in 2023 is leading to calls to improve postpartum mental health care. While the prosecution paints her as a deliberate killer, Lindsay Clancy's defense team argues she was in the grips of severe postpartum psychosis, and didn't receive proper medical care.

The unrelenting national attention on the Clancy trial has been difficult for people who've had postpartum psychosis, says Meghan Cliffel who experienced the disorder and is now a mental health advocate. She says many women believe that sheer luck prevented a similar disaster from happening to them.

For ongoing coverage of the Lindsay Clancy trial, visit WBUR .

Advocates like Cliffel say the case highlights gaps in mental health care for new mothers and the urgent need for more research and public education about a rarely discussed but severe illness. Doctors emphasize, if diagnosed correctly, it's treatable and patients can go on to live normal lives.

Cliffel's psychosis started suddenly, when she was riding the subway home from her job in New York City in December, 2015, she says. She began to believe people were watching and following her. She thought other passengers on the train were part of a group trying to harm her and her daughters, who were 2 years old and 8 months old at the time.

"My brain is essentially taking all of these little details and knitting them together into this new alternate sense of terrifying truth wherein the entire city is out to get me and my girls," Cliffel recalls.